Skin as Signal
Faculty Mentor
Josh Hobson
Presentation Type
Creative Work
Start Date
4-13-2026 4:30 PM
End Date
4-13-2026 6:30 PM
Location
Art Building
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Art
Abstract
Skin as signal is a photographic body of work presented as digital analog prints produced on 8 × 10 archival pigmented photosensitive paper. The project explores the female form through visual strategies inspired by the Surrealist movement, where subtle shifts in perspective and framing allow the familiar body to become slightly unfamiliar. Through careful lighting, fragmentation, and compositional restraint, the photographs move between abstraction and representation, inviting viewers to reconsider how the body communicates meaning within photographic space.
Artist Statement:
In Skin as signal, I’m looking at the female body through a slightly surreal lens. The
body becomes a place where reality shifts just enough to feel unfamiliar. I’m not
showing it as an object. I’m using it as a language. Small crops, odd angles, and soft
gestures turn the body into symbols. These fragments start to work like quiet surreal
moments, where the ordinary slips into something dreamlike.
The close shots are important. Skin, nipples, shadows, bends of light. They sit
somewhere between real and imagined. When you isolate these parts, the body
changes. The familiar becomes strange, which is one of the reasons Surrealism has
peaked my interest. That slight shift allows new meaning to appear. These images are
playful, a little sensual, and sometimes unsettling, but still tender. They ask the viewer
to sit with that feeling.
The full portraits pull everything back together. They anchor the project after spending
time in those dreamlike fragments. The light is darker, the mood heavier, but the subject
still feels present and grounded. The body communicates without words. It feels like a
symbol, a sign, a piece of a larger dream.
My goal is to let the female form speak in this surreal space. The work celebrates body
pride, comfort, and the way we read ourselves. It’s a quiet invitation to look closer. To
notice the signals in skin and shadow.
Recommended Citation
Trujillo, Tro, "Skin as Signal" (2026). 2026 Symposium. 33.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2026/cw_2026/art_2026/33
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Skin as Signal
Art Building
Skin as signal is a photographic body of work presented as digital analog prints produced on 8 × 10 archival pigmented photosensitive paper. The project explores the female form through visual strategies inspired by the Surrealist movement, where subtle shifts in perspective and framing allow the familiar body to become slightly unfamiliar. Through careful lighting, fragmentation, and compositional restraint, the photographs move between abstraction and representation, inviting viewers to reconsider how the body communicates meaning within photographic space.
Artist Statement:
In Skin as signal, I’m looking at the female body through a slightly surreal lens. The
body becomes a place where reality shifts just enough to feel unfamiliar. I’m not
showing it as an object. I’m using it as a language. Small crops, odd angles, and soft
gestures turn the body into symbols. These fragments start to work like quiet surreal
moments, where the ordinary slips into something dreamlike.
The close shots are important. Skin, nipples, shadows, bends of light. They sit
somewhere between real and imagined. When you isolate these parts, the body
changes. The familiar becomes strange, which is one of the reasons Surrealism has
peaked my interest. That slight shift allows new meaning to appear. These images are
playful, a little sensual, and sometimes unsettling, but still tender. They ask the viewer
to sit with that feeling.
The full portraits pull everything back together. They anchor the project after spending
time in those dreamlike fragments. The light is darker, the mood heavier, but the subject
still feels present and grounded. The body communicates without words. It feels like a
symbol, a sign, a piece of a larger dream.
My goal is to let the female form speak in this surreal space. The work celebrates body
pride, comfort, and the way we read ourselves. It’s a quiet invitation to look closer. To
notice the signals in skin and shadow.
